Stephanie Roche fires Ireland to victory over Slovakia

Over 1,000 spectators turned out at Tallaght Stadium for the game which very nearly didn't go ahead due to the row over squad conditions.

Republic of Ireland 1 Slovakia 0

The game that nearly wasn’t attracted an unusual level of media interest and a crowd of 1,037 to Tallaght to see the senior women’s team give new manager Colin Bell a victory in his first game on home soil, as they beat Slovakia 1-0 thanks to a Stephanie Roche penalty, writes Liam Mackey.

“Football is about results and there is nothing better than a win to start off with,” said Bell.

“There was a lot of attention and focus on the girls but they handled it well. They will be disappointed they didn’t score more. It’s great they’re creating chances but we do have to get this killer instinct going upfront and hopefully finish teams off.”

Player of the match Katie McCabe insisted that last week’s dispute with the FAI over pay and conditions had no bearing on the team’s approach to the game.

“That was put to bed the minute everything was sorted out,” she said. “For us it was about getting back on the training ground with Colin and concentrating on the game and getting the result which is obviously what we did.”

In what was quite a physical contest for a friendly, Slovakia lost their skipper Lucia Harsananyova to injury after just thirteen minutes of a first half in which, while the home side dominated possession – with the inventive McCabe and the industrious Denise O’Sullivan the stand-out performers - chances were few and far between at either end.

After 23 minutes, the visitors came close to breaking the deadlock as Patricia Hmirova drilled a free-kick just wide of Emma Byrne’s post, but the clearest goal opportunity came Ireland’s way in the 39th minute when, after a defence-splitting through ball by Megan Connolly, McCabe was twice thwarted by Slovakian ‘keeper Lucia El Dahabiova.

Ireland got their second half off to a perfect start when, within a minute of the restart, Connolly was brought down in the box and Stephanie Roche stepped up to coolly slot home the spot kick.

Slovakia lost another player when Petra Zdechovanava had to be stretchered off just past the hour mark but, as the sun broke through in Tallaght, there were no dark clouds for an Irish side now firmly in the ascendancy, with the left-footed McCabe catching the eye and delighting the crowd as a constant threat dribbling in off the right flank.

With just two minutes remaining, McCabe’s run at the heart of a back-pedalling Slovakian defence ultimately required a good save from Dahabiova to deny the Arsenal girl a goal with which to crown her player of the match display.

Afterwards, McCabe, who grew up in nearby Kilnamanagh, said she has faith that the Irish senior women’s team are now on the right path to securing a first-ever qualification for a major tournament, as they added this win to a recent impressive showing in the Cyprus Cup.

”Absolutely, especially in the hands of Colin,” she said. “He's done great stuff and with his experience having won the Champions League with Frankfurt, he's teaching us a lot and we're willing to learn and grow. He will set standards and we'll set standards as players on the pitch and in training. We want to qualify for a major tournament as we've not done that before. We're in good hands with Colin.”

The girls in green will learn who their qualifying group opponents will be when the draw for the 2019 World Cup in France takes place on April 25.

Republic of Ireland: Byrne (Hourihane 45), Perry, Caldwell, Quinn, Scott, Duggan, O’Sullivan, Roche (Littlejohn 87), O’Gorman, Connolly (Russell 74), McCabe (O’Riordan 93)

Slovakia: El Habioya, Harsananyova (Susolova 13), Biroova, Fabova (Havranova 57), Liskova (Brissova 66), Hmirova, Koskiova (Kovlova 79), Zdechovanova (Slukova 65), Suskova, Bartovicova,Mikolajova

Referee: Cheryl Foster (Wales)